Spotlight on SME recruitment in the sales sector.
SMEs play a crucial role in most economies, and South Africa is no exception. They are also important contributors to job creation and global economic development. According to the World Bank Group, SMEs represent about 90% of businesses worldwide, while the International Finance Corporation revealed that roughly 50% to 60% of South Africa’s workforce finds employment within SMEs.
A key challenge SMEs face is finding employees who are a good fit for their business and who have the skills required to increase efficiency and business growth. Pnet researched the recruitment needs of SMEs over 12 months (Q2:2022 to Q2:2023), and the findings revealed that sales skills, finance skills, business & management skills, as well as admin, office & support skills, and IT skills are most in demand across employers in the SME space.
“On average, people stay in sales jobs for 3 years and 9 months. This is higher than the average tenure in South Africa across all sectors (2 years and 4 months). Only 37.1% of candidates in this sector have a tertiary qualification; 48.4% of candidates are willing to relocate, with 59.7% currently residing in Gauteng; and 69.9% are employment equity candidates,” says Paul Byrne, Head of Data Insights & Customer Success at Pnet.
“Monthly salary offerings for sales representatives, excluding commissions and incentives, range from R18 000 to R25 000,” says Byrne.
In an American e-paper article called “Small businesses face challenges retaining and hiring workers,” a small business owner explained the challenge of SMEs recruiting sales staff: “Small businesses often face challenges when it comes to closing sales deals.
This is usually due to a lack of sales skills, resources, and experience. Small businesses often lack the resources to provide comprehensive sales training to their employees. This can result in sales teams that are ill-equipped to handle various sales scenarios, leading to fewer closed deals.”
Overcoming common recruitment challenges
Despite needing to attract and retain skilled talent, SMEs often face three major recruitment challenges:
Time-to-hire: Time is a critical factor for all SMEs during the recruitment process, but particularly so for those within the warehousing & logistics sector. Due to the nature of the industry, it’s important to fill roles as quickly as possible in order to mitigate downtime in procurement and supply.
Sourcing candidates directly using job-matching technology streamlines the hiring process so that SMEs can quickly reach more job seekers. SMEs can advertise their vacancies directly to active job seekers or tap into a database of professional candidates.
Sophisticated platforms like Pnet’s online recruitment portal offer a host of easy-to-use tools and features to filter and shortlist suitable candidates from its database of over 6 million jobseekers. What’s more, recruiters’ job ads get further reach from the 100 million job alerts that Pnet sends directly to jobseekers’ inboxes every month.
High recruitment costs: Due to the need for specialised skills, companies tend to lean on the likes of recruitment agencies or headhunters, inflating the cost of talent as a result of retainer fees or placement fees.
By going directly to Pnet to source suitable candidates, SMEs can save up to 60% on their recruitment costs. Pnet uses advanced algorithms and analytics to target job advertisements to the most relevant candidates. This enables recruiters to find quality candidates using locally relevant filters and create talent pools to access when they need to hire for similar roles in the future.
Inadequate personnel to focus on the recruitment process: SMEs often don’t have the luxury of a dedicated resource to handle their hiring activity, so sifting through CVs, shortlisting candidates and conducting interviews can feel overwhelming.
Pnet’s expert “Response Handling” Team can help source quality matches for your vacancies – they know how to input your job description to attract candidates to your job ad, and can create suitable shortlists on your behalf so that you can get on with your core business activities.
As businesses navigate the ever-evolving landscape of talent acquisition, the role of data in SME recruitment emerges as a crucial factor in staying competitive and relevant. By understanding the challenges unique to each sector, businesses can leverage data-driven recruitment to mitigate downtime and streamline the hiring process.
The key takeaway is clear: a data-driven approach is not just about identifying skills in demand but is a strategic tool for sculpting a workforce that meets current needs while future-proofing businesses against talent gaps. In embracing this approach, businesses can transform recruitment from a reactive process into a proactive strategy, ensuring a steady pipeline of qualified candidates and reinforcing their position in a competitive market.
Built-for-purpose online recruitment platforms like Pnet are emerging as powerful tools to help SMEs find the right candidates for their vacant roles. In fact, these platforms have become a game changer for companies of all sizes, allowing them to flourish by attracting and retaining their most important asset: people.
Contact Pnet for help you with your SME recruitment efforts:
www.pnet.co.za
+27 (10)140 3099
